Aurora's Tale
by BethShadows
Summary: Season 3 (4 on Netflix) spoilers. Aurora's story, starting with the night that Dragon came and going back to her childhood to see her reasons for the carnage she caused. Starts with a short story.
1. The Night The Dragon Came

**I wasn't sure to post this as part of my one-shot series or seperate story. You can tell which one I went for.**

 **So this is based from a theory I posted to my tumblr (mako-and-tails-and-stuff) about Aurora. I have the second part of the link to the post in the reviews as well as below. I couldn't get the whole link to paste in and save, sorry about that. This thing really does not want to let me post links...**

 **If you want to check out my theory (I'd recommend doing so after reading this) use the link below but add '** tumblr . com **' after the '** stuff **.' after my username (keep the ' . ' after stuff also no spaces.**

mako-and-tails-and-stuff./post/172105392109/mako-theory-s34-spoilers-i-was-thinking-and-had

 **I wanted to write this as a full length story but it wasn't working out too well, so I ended up writing this instead. As with most of my stuff this is dark and warnings include : violence and abuse as well as scenes some readers may find distressing.**

 **I swear I am trying to write some lighter stuff for my one-shots. My human!detective! Mako AU however, is getting darker the more I write it.**

 **Word Count: 4,582**

* * *

Aurora still remembered that night. The night the Dragon came. She couldn't forget it, no matter how hard she had tried. Even when her past became a distant far off time, that memory still lingered about.

They had decided to send her out to meet Nerissa alone. Her Mother, a Spanish Mermaid known by Marisol had been certain Nerissa would turn up alone and unprotected as well. She had been right. It still confused her why Nerissa was alone, she must have known what she was getting into considering the rumours about Aurora. About how powerful she was, possibly even more so than Nerissa.

There was an expression she'd learned that said to never meet your heroes, and how true that had been. Nerissa had been nothing like she was expecting. She'd been expecting someone ... grander. She'd met powerful Mermaids before and they all had power practically seeping out of them. It almost tainted the very water around them. Nerissa wasn't anything like that. For one the Mermaid was only three years older than her, and another thing - she hadn't even looked capable of conjuring up a storm. Yet somehow the Eastern Pod had pinned their hope on her to protect them from a threat they believed to be there and ever present, looming before them. If Nerissa had truely been their saviour, she would've been there for the true threat.

It had been such a shame that Nerissa herself ended up being the doom of the Eastern Pod.

* * *

They weren't going to hurt the Pod. Her Mother, Marisol, assured her that was all a ruse they concocted in order keep Nerissa with the Eastern Pod while they prepared the Jiao Long curse for casting. It wasn't an easy spell and Marisol had made sure she'd been training to cast it for years. There had been no rest. Once it was cast and once Nerissa was gone, they'd leave and the Eastern Pod could rebuild, once the Dragon was gone of course. Some of the Pod had already left for land fed up of the "threat" hanging over them. She'd been on land quite a few times when she stayed with the Mako Pod but had never stayed more than a day at a time. The idea of living on land intrigued her but she knew those Eastern Mermaids just wanted to return home. She would if she was them.

Aurora was waiting out in the East China Sea, off the coast of Shanghai near one of the little islands to the south west of the city. The sea was still and quiet and even from where Aurora was she could see the faint glow of the city in the distance. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to see the Dragon. Apparently it glowed.

It was the full moon, the first one of the land calender year, yet she knew none of the Eastern Pod were celebrating. Just as well; the Moon wasn't even out. The Pod were all in hiding, like the Moon was. Only the clouds hid the Moon and the Pod hid because they were scared of her. They didn't need to be. It wasn't even her attacking them, the others just decided it was best to present her as the front-runner, the Big Threat. She hadn't decided that. She hadn't had a choice, she was told that was what was happening and she pretended to be okay with that. She had to be okay with it, arguing back would only hurt her. She'd learned that long ago.

As instructed by Marisol she wore her Moon Ring on her left hand rather than her right. She'd switch it back later once having it on the opposite hand had served it's purpose. It felt odd on her left hand though, unnatural, and it wasn't helped by the feeling of the bracelet on her arm. The Jiao Long bracelet was curled around her left forearm, the cold metal gave the feeling of ice. It burned with such an intensive cold, the likes she had never felt before, not even when they'd visited the Arctic Sea Pod, the most northern based Pod in the all the oceans. It had been mid-winter and the ocean was frozen over in large ice sheets the Mermaids broke for fun.

Her stomach shifted slightly. She felt the eels of nerves begin writhing again. The waves of nausea rose up too. She wanted nothing more than to swim off, to go back down South to that city she'd visited when she lived at Mako and to leave Nerissa alone. Their goals had gotten too muddled and she no longer wanted anything more to do with this. If Aurora left then Nerissa wouldn't be hurt and could go back to her daughter she'd left at Mako. Nerissa's daughter didn't deserve to grow up with out her Mother because of her. The Eastern Pod would be fine as well and nothing bad would happen to anyone.

But who was she kidding? The moment they realised she was gone they would turn on the Eastern Pod, blame it on her and then they'd hunt her down. They'd turn her over to the Eastern Pod or whatever Pod they were near at the time once they caught her and would let them execute her - what she'd be accused of would warrant a trial that would end with a death sentence. Mermaids aren't allowed to kill other Mermaids, so the execution would be something...creative. The Mako Pod had sharks to carry out the executions for them. The creatures were kept in massive cages most of the time and looked after by selected Mermaids and then were starved out before the execution. The prisoner was cut to let their blood get eh sharks attention and then they were thrown in with the sharks. It was violent and it was bloody. Stray sharks swam by for days following the execution.

A dark haired Mermaid surfaced not far in front of her, a few tail lengths atm most. Close enough that Aurora could make out blue eyes and tanned skin. She didn't look particularly Northern, in fact she resembled one of the Eastern Mermaids Aurora had seen more so than any of the Northern Pod. Yet this was Nerissa, the most gifted and powerful Mermaid to come from the Northern Pod since Lilian. Lilian was a Canadian Mermaid who lived her whole life amongst the Northern Pod and had been killed when the Northern Pod was first attacked. Aurora had liked Lilian when they had stayed with the Northern Pod, she'd taught her how to make it snow in the days before Marisol ordered the others to attack.

Nerissa looked at her.

She was nervous, it was plain to see. Aurora didn't blame her, she had a reputation. A reputation built upon the lies and the cruelty of others, but it was still what the other Mermaids though about her. Aurora took a breath and made sure to speak calmly as to not betray her own nerves. She couldn't afford to show her fear.

"You must be Nerissa," Aurora said. It wasn't a question, she knew the Mermaid was Nerissa.

"I am yes," Nerissa swallowed," and you are?"

She didn't sound Northern either. The Northern Pod stayed near Canada and all had Canadian sounding accents. Nerissa sounded more Australian. She'd had a similar accent herself while she stayed there, but Marisol told her to drop it. She'd gone back to the typical English accent everyone has in those land movies that Marisol had told her was her natural accent. Marisol made sure she kept that accent and gone as far as forcing her to stay with the only merman she'd even known or heard of, Ambrose, for much of her childhood. All so she'd keep an accent. She didn't know why and Ambrose hadn't either. When she'd asked Marisol she'd just been not to ask questions. That was her first warning without some form of violence accompanying it. It had also been the last warning without violence accompanying it.

"It's good to meet you Nerissa, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Aurora."

"You're Aurora?" Nerissa looked scared. How was this Mermaid the hope of the Pod? Unless it was an act. Maybe she was meant to lure her into a false sense of security, then once her guard was down, Nerissa would deal with her. She really, really wanted to leave now. She felt the little spike of adrenaline as a wave of fear rolled through her. She didn't know how long she could stop herself. When it came down to fight or flight, she always chose flight.

"I am yes," she repeated Nerissa's words, " but don't worry, I'm not here to hurt anyone. I don't even have a Moon Ring." She help up her right hand, showing Nerissa the lack of a Moon Ring. She lowered her hand back under the water and switched her Moon Ring from her left hand to her right. Moon Rings were symbols of power, the fact that she didn't have one would hopefully throw Nerissa for a bit.

"I don't believe you," Nerissa said. " You've been attacking the Eastern Pod for years -"

No. She hadn't. The others had. Marisol, Ambrose, the triplets, Callie, Chelsea, Brooke. Not her. The bloodshed wasn't her job, but Nerissa wasn't allowed to know that. No one was.

"But no Mermaids have been hurt, have they?" She interjected, "I don't want to hurt the Pod, and I'm not going to."

"Then why are you doing this?" Nerissa asked. Aurora wanted to roll her eyes. In situations like this, when it comes down to War, you don't ask. You demand. Marisol had always taught her that. Usually because she was too weak to demand anything. She was always so weak. No wonder Marisol got annoyed so much.

"I didn't finish, I 'm not going to," she paused for a split second," but you are."

Nerissa looked at her in horrified confusion. She wanted to leave again. There was still time to leave. She hadn't done anything yet.

"What are you talking about?" There was the demanding.

Aurora only had a second to act before Nerissa tried anything. Just because Nerissa didn't look like much, didn't mean she wasn't as powerful as they all said. Aurora lifted her arm and clenched her hand into a fist. She sent a bolt of blue energy from her Moon Ring. It hit Nerissa and the Mermaid froze. She'd be immobile for a few hours at the most she but would be completely aware of everything that was going on around her. Aurora let her arm drop back down into the water with a splash. There was still time to leave.

She lifted her left arm out the water, revealing the bracelet to the clouded sky and to Nerissa. It was such a beautiful piece of jewellery and the power contained within it intrigued her. No one knew where the bracelet came from originally and it had taken Marisol over a decade to finally get her hands on it and give it to Aurora.

"Do you know what this is?" Aurora asked. The Moon still wasn't shining yet because of the damned clouds. She needed the Moon light to activate the bracelet in order cast the curse. If the Moon didn't come out soon, she'd have to disperse those clouds herself.

Nerissa didn't answer on account of being entirely immobile.

"It's the Jiao Long bracelet, from the old myth about the Jiao Long Dragon. It's used to cast the Jiao Long curse, it breaks the curse too. Now whoever wears the bracelet can control the curse, control the Dragon" she told Nerissa. She didn't know if Nerissa knew anything about Jiao Long but she'd learned about it and other land mythology from Ambrose. The Merman used to frequent land and often told her about it. He taught her about the land and how to read and write. She'd never gone on land herself until she went to Mako so Ambrose's stories were all she had. Marisol never let her go on land. The Mako Pod hadn't either but going against their rules had been far easier than going against Marisol's.

The clouds cleared. The Moon's light shone down. She used her right hand to activate the bracelet with her powers. The stones that were embedded into the gold glowed bright red. There was a small nagging feeling that this wasn't a good idea, that she should really stop now. The red glow intensified and that feeling got stronger. There's still time. Seconds but it's still time. Time enough to leave.

The water around Nerissa began to glow blue and bubble, like a Moon Pool. Under the bubbles thick snakes of water were wrapping themselves around Nerissa's tail, glowing brightly, brighter than the surface was. The snakes coiled around the Mermaid's stomach, stretching up across her shoulders, around her neck. Little snakes, looking like nothing more than little ivy trendrils twisted across Nerissa's face. Now there was no time. No time to turn back.

The water glowed brighter. The last thing she saw was Nerissa's eyes turn from blue to dark, before she had to close her eyes against the light.

Then it stopped.

Aurora opened her eyes. The water was still glowing faintly but the bubbles were gone. The stones on the bracelet stopped glowing. She let her arm drop back into the water. She found herself struggling to stay afloat. She was tired. Drained. Like all the life had been sucked out of her. She hoped to never feel like that again.

The glowing in the water got brighter. Then the Dragon appeared. It rose slowly out of the water, little by little unfurling to it's full size. It towered far above her, sixty feet of water that formed the creature.

It worked. There was such finality to that statement. She'd turned Nerissa into a Dragon and had committed her daughter to a life without her Mother, so her own Mother wouldn't kill her. Chelsea told her if she didn't do this Marisol would make being eaten alive by sharks look like a fish pedicure. It had seemed such an easy choice back then.

The Dragon seemed unsure on what to do. Marisol had said that would happen. She also said there would be little to no trace of Nerissa left in the creature, only her power. The Dragon lowered it's head and sniffed at her, nostrils flaring. Water dripped down onto the waves from the beast. She held up the bracelet again. She hadn't told Nerissa the full truth. The bracelet only let you control the Dragon if it was you who had cast the spell in the first place. Aurora could control the Dragon. No one else could.

The Dragon pulled its head back and roared sending out blue flames into the sky. A Dragon made of water that breathes flames? Who made these things? Her breath caught as her new weakness flared up again. Marisol hadn't told her she would loose power to the Dragon. If she had known, she wouldn't have cast it. Probably why Marisol hadn't told her. Maybe she expected her to drown out here so that the Dragon could run amok next Full Moon without the risk of her doing something.

Still holding the bracelet up, she steadied herself for a second before speaking.

"Leave."

The Dragon tilted its head to look at her. It growled softly before it slipped back under the water leaving ripples across the waves. The glowing finally ceased completely.

The Dragon would return next Full Moon and turn on the Eastern Pod, draining their magic. Aurora felt a twinge of pity, if it felt anything like she did...those poor Mermaids. She didn't want to hurt them, but Marisol said it was for the best. There was royal blood within the Eastern Pod and it couldn't be allowed to remain present.

She had never understood that. What was really so bad about the royals? They united the Seas centuries ago before the War broke out again, so surely they weren't bad? She had asked Nguyet, but the Vietnamese Mermaid had told her to ask her Mother. When she asked Marisol, she'd been hit across the face and had had Marisol ask her "I thought you knew by now not to ask stupid questions, or do you struggle too much to comprehend that?" That had been the last time she asked Marisol anything for a while. The Mermaid could be volatile even at the best of times. It had been worse back then before she left for Mako. Marisol had softened slightly in the twenty years Aurora was gone, she'd been so cruel when Aurora was younger. She hadn't left for Mako until she was six, nearing seven years old and didn't return to the Rebels until she was twenty six.

"We're heading back West Aurora. You will join us after the Full Moon tonight, once the Pod's gone."

Marisol appeared behind her. Aurora quickly pushed the shell she had been studying to the side. She stopped letting Marisol see her collections even before she went to Mako. Marisol used to break the shells as a way to punish her. She'd never been allowed to keep anything for long or if she had, she was constantly in fear it would be broken or taken anyway. She used to get Ambrose and one of the triplets - Chau - to keep them for her but Marisol found out. She'd accused Aurora of trying to hide secrets from her Mother and disrespecting her authority by being underhanded. She'd been punished. Severly. She still had nightmares about that week. About the inescapable darkness she was forced to remain trapped in. She'd been so very hungry. So very cold. So very scared.

Aurora turned around to face her Mother. She still wore the Dragon bracelet on her arm. It no longer burned. It hadn't hurt to wear since she cast the curse almost a whole Moon Cycle ago. She liked wearing it, it made her feel braver, brave enough to ask Marisol about something they wouldn't tell her. That in itself was a big no - no.

"What will happen to the Dragon?" Aurora asked, "It will just keep appearing every Full Moon even after the Pod is gone. So what will happen?"

Marisol looked at her, face blank.

"That doesn't matter, and it's nothing you need to worry about Aurora. All that matters is the Pod will be gone and so will Nerissa," Marisol replied. She could hear the growing edge in Marisol's voice.

She didn't know why she pressed on. It might have had something to do with the anger she felt towards Marisol at that moment. It built up for

"But she's not gone. She's the Dragon but she's still Nerissa. Why can't we turn her back? She'll -"

She shouldn't have pressed on. Bravery can so easily become stupidity. Marisol slapped her across the face. Tears sprung to her eyes immediately in response to the stinging pain of her cheek. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Tears always only made it worse.

"I have told you time and time again, you do not answer me back. I thought spending time at Mako had cured you of that disrespect."

Aurora bit the inside of her mouth. Sending her to Mako had been Marisol's best and worst decision. For Aurora it was her best. For Marisol it was her worst, not that she knew that. Living amongst the Mako Pod for nearly sixteen years meant Aurora now had to skills to survive out in the ocean on her own, something Marisol hadn't taught her and hadn't let Ambrose teach her in order to keep her dependant on them for her survival.

That's what gave her to courage to speak out now. She was done with it all and knowing she really could just leave and live on her own this time made her desperately want that freedom again. She'd be free until they found her again. But if she went on land...

"I'm not a child anymore Mother. You can't just tell me to shut up and move on now. You made me cast that curse and I want to know what's going to happen afterwards!" She tried to stop her voice raising in volume. She'd never shouted at Marisol before. She'd never dared. The adrenaline spiked through her and she was fighting the urge to flee. Fight or flight. Only this time she was ready to choose fight. If she got out now she could make it to the Eastern Pod and warn them about the Dragon.

"Oh for tides sake, this has gone on long enough - I am not your Mother!"

Aurora froze.

"Your Mother left you as a baby. Probably because she knew the pathetic selfish brat you'd become," Marisol continued, "if it wasn't for me you'd have been shark food before you'd lived long enough to open your eyes and see it coming. Now we're at one of the biggest moments of our lives, where we're about to extinguish the entire Eastern strain of royalty- and you have to nerve to make it about you."

Marisol grabbed her upper arm and pulled her in finger tips digging in painfully. She let go and pulled the Jiao Long bracelet off Aurora's forearm. Aurora let out a cry of pain as it ripped the skin at her wrist and hand. Blood swirled out into the water. The tears ran down her cheeks in pain.

"I hope the Dragon gets you first and you drown out here. It would be such poetic justice for what you've done."

"You made me do it," Aurora's voice shook.

"Oh stop crying, "you made me" , I asked you. I can't be blamed for how easy it was to manipulate you. I don't know how you ever thought I was really your mother, you're too weak minded, too stupid to be able to see what's right in front of you."

* * *

She couldn't remember much of what happened after that. She'd been angry. She remembered that much. Marisol had abused her almost the whole time she lived with the Rebel Pod, made sure she was too scared to venture out on her own or fight back. Aurora knew she'd hurt Marisol when she fought back. There had been too much blood for it to have just been her, despite the slash she'd earned when Marisol pulled a blade across her. It had started from her left shoulder and gone to her sternum.

She managed to leave and went to try and warn the Eastern Pod about the Dragon.

She hadn't made it.

She had blacked out somewhere near the coast shortly before Moonrise and didn't wake up for two days. By which point the Dragon had been and gone and taken out more than half the Pod. The Eastern Pod had thrown all their Moon Ring power against the Dragon but to no avail. Only the Jiao Long bracelet could've saved them.

When she had woken up after the fight with Marisol she'd been in an unfamiliar room on land and had had the most intense pain in her head and bandages across her shoulder, chest and arm.

One of the Eastern Pod, a Mermaid named Shui, had found her. Aurora had stayed with Shui and her five year old granddaughter, Weilan, for a few months until Shui had declared her fit to swim again. Her shoulder injury had been more extensive than she had thought and both her and Shui and wondered how on earth she had managed to swim most of the way to Shanghai with it.

She never told them who she really was. She figured Shui might not be so welcoming to her if they knew she was Aurora, the evil Mermaid who went around attacking Pods, so she went by a different name- Rita. Despite the fact that she never hurt those Mermaids. It had been the others. Mostly Marisol, Callie, Chelsea and the triplets - Chau, Hang and Nguyet. Brooke and Ambrose were involved to a lesser extent. She had been chosen her predominantly to embarrass the Pods. One Mermaid, not even 30 years old managing to get the better of both the Northern and Eastern Pods? It would destroy their reputation and discredit them within the Mermaid community. It had made her someone to be feared, something she'd never wanted. She wanted to be liked, not feared.

Shui seemed to like her because she looked after Weilan when Shui had to go out. She'd helped Weilan with school work too, something Shui especially liked. Weilan liked that she could do cool tricks with her powers and she good at braiding hair. Every morning that Aurora had stayed with them Weilan would demand she did her hair. She'd obliged everytime.

The Dragon never appeared in Shanghai again. At least it hadn't for another twelve years. Aurora had spent those first Full Moons stuck on land with Weilan and Shui in Shanghai terrified it would return. The worst thing about the situation had been that she couldn't have done anything. Marisol took the bracelet, and she certainly had no plans to use it to free Nerissa.

Shortly after had Shui declared her fully healed she went back to Mako, only this time to the land. She went to land school , university and successfully got a job as a teacher at one of the local high schools - Suncoast High. She taught History and English and sometimes covered the Spanish classes. One of the few good things Marisol had done was make sure Ambrose taught her multiple languages - English, Spanish, French and Mandarin.

She'd deliberately lost her English accent and picked up the local one again. There had been no need to stand out. She already had a fairly common name and took the surname of the land boy she had been going to spend the rest of her life with to blend in and further assimilate into the Gold Coast society. She'd met Harry while at university and had fallen in love again, something she hadn't thought possible. She had lived with him in their house on the hill overlooking the beach until he was killed. She had stayed though after he died, something that surprised even her. She tended to run from things like that instead of staying and fighting the changes.

There had been a time after his death she had felt like she was slipping and resorting back to the scared Mermaid she'd been. She'd almost gone back to Aurora. But there were had been people she could turn to prevent that. She went to stay with Shui and Weilan, who had been 12 years old at that time, for a month before returning to the Gold Coast and applying for the position as the principal of Suncoast High. She got the job and settled in her life. Her past managed to became a distant memory. "Aurora" became nobody but a relic of an old time, another person almost. She never went away though, not completely and Rita was okay with that, because no one was in danger of discovering that side of her.

Then those Mermaids turned up.

* * *

 **So the version of Aurora is somewhat different to the version in my other short story Reflections: A Mermaid's Life (which I have edited, as I noticed a few errors and I also added a little bit more in)**

 **I have decided to make this a one shot series in itself. I'll try not to completely abandon my other one shot series, but I don't have any inspiration for it.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Mako's Newcomer

**Words: 2,208**

 **Aurora's arrival at Mako. This is set in 1984, I have a timeline drawn up and will be in the AN note at the end.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It was the fifth day of swimming that they finally reached Mako island. Marisol had at first been adamant about not stopping for too long wanting to get there as quick as possible, but after Aurora had nearly fallen asleep more than once while trying to keep swimming, she'd given in.

Marisol was in a far better mood than Aurora had ever seen before. She had even stopped to let Aurora collect some shells on their journey south as to replace the ones broken from the day before they left. Aurora had said she didn't want to go to Mako and Marisol hadn't reacted the best. Aurora still had the marks on her upper arm from when Marisol had grabbed her before smashing the shells that had packed in a bag for Aurora to take with her to Mako. It just looked like she'd bashed into some coral, so Marisol saw no reason to heal the bruises over.

Nguyet had seen those marks on her arm. Nguyet had said nothing about them, neither had Chelsea or Callie. Ambrose had waited until Marisol went off to speak to Chau before quietly telling her how he glad he was that she would be away from Marisol. She was too. Marisol may be her Mother, but those rare times she was away from her were the only times Aurora felt safe. The others didn't care enough to watch her constantly and report her movements back to Marisol, so she had meagre doses of freedom. They may not have liked her, besides Ambrose at least, but they didn't like seeing her hurt. She saw how they looked at her whenever Marisol lost her temper and she suffered the consequences. They looked at her with pity.

The waters around the island were the warmest Aurora had ever swam in and the reefs were so bright. She'd lived her whole life in Northern waters, the only time they were warm was the shallows in the Summer months, if Summer ever came.

Still, the closer they got to Mako the tighter she clutched her bag of shells, the closer she swam to Marisol and the more the eels in her stomach writhed. The gravity of the whole situation crept up on her - she was being left alone with a Pod of Mermaids she didn't know in an unfamiliar ocean halfway across the world from everyone and everything she'd ever known. It scared her.

* * *

Marisol took her before a group of three elder Mermaids in the Mako Moon Pool. Aurora had only been in a Moon Pool once before back when they had stayed in the Celtic Sea on the south coast of the land called Ireland. The one who spoke directly to Marisol wore an extravagant amount of shells tied and woven into her dark hair keeping it back off her tanned face. It was a kind face, yet Aurora was wary. Marisol had a kind face. Marisol wasn't kind.

"This is your daughter then?" The Mermaid with the extravagant shells asked. Marisol had explained she'd travelled South to see if there was any chance the Pod would accept her daughter, based on tales she'd heard of Mako's welcoming atmosphere towards other Mermaids from all waters.

"Yes," Marisol replied,"this is my daughter, Rita."

Marisol had told her wasn't allowed to use her name. 'Aurora' wasn't meant to be her anymore, she was 'Rita' now. She was supposed to loose her accent too and replace it with the local one that the rest of the Pod used. Until then she was supposed to speak as little as possible so that no Mermaid would be able to look back sometime in the future and remember she had once been different from them.

Aurora lowered her head and studied the water. She didn't like how the tanned, blonde Mermaid beside the Mermaid who was speaking looked at her. It made her uneasy, the same way she felt when she knew Marisol was angry. The other Mermaid seemed nicer. She had dark skin and black curly hair and had smiled brightly at Aurora, before she had lowered her head.

"What situation has made it so you have need to leave her with us?" the middle one asked.

"Things are changing up North, Selene. I'm worried for my daughter's safety. I want her to be safe and I believe this is the safest place for her."

Aurora lifted her head again. The blonde whispered something to Selene. Selene turned to the Mermaid who had smiled at Aurora, who also whispered something.

"Rita can stay with us," Selene announced, "She'll be accepted into the Pod as one of our own."

Aurora swallowed. She was free of Marisol. So why did she so desperately want to cry and beg Marisol not to leave her?

"I have to go now sweetie," Marisol smiled so sweetly at her before she hugged her,"Be good _mija*_ , I will see you again."

Aurora hugged her back. She didn't want to be left alone. She'd rather be trapped in that cave again at the mercy of her mother's temper, than alone.

"You are welcome to stay and rest Marisol before you return North," Selene offered.

"Thank you for the kind offer but I have to return. It was a longer swim here than I had expected. The poor dear almost didn't make it," Marisol said, smiling at Aurora while she spoke the last part. Aurora hadn't been used to swimming long distances, she'd never been allowed to swim far and found the swim hard.

"Safe travels then. And don't worry your daughter will be looked after well."

Marisol smiled sadly, "I have no doubt she will."

The Mermaid slipped under the surface and Aurora felt the water brush against her fin as Marisol swam out. Aurora kept her head down and caught a flash of orange as Marisol left her.

"How old are you Rita?" Selene asked her.

Aurora hesitated slightly. That name sounded so odd. It wasn't her name. Yet it was now. She didn't like the whole situation.

"Six."

She inwardly winced at her voice. She sounded so scared and didn't think her accent had ever been so noticeable with just one word before.

"There are a few other Mermaids your age here, you'll fit in with them. They'll be training with you in Mermaid School. Has your Mother given you any training?"

Marisol hadn't. She'd gotten Ambrose to teach Aurora everything she knew, but Aurora wasn't allowed to mention Ambrose. Not many Mermaids liked Mermen and it would put Ambrose in danger. "You don't want Ambrose to get hurt because of you, do you? After everything he's done for you, it would hardly be fair to him."

"A little."

She could manipulate water well enough and could hold invisibilty for ten counts. She'd been starting to get the hang of freezing water but the last lesson hadn't ended too well.

"This is Kelby," Selene looked to the dark skinned Mermaid beside her, " she's one of the teachers for the Pod, she will be instructing your class on how to use your Powers.

Aurora lifted her head again and smiled slightly at Kelby.

"And this is Vanora."

The blonde Mermaid smiled, "welcome to our Pod Rita."

Aurora had always thought the whole idea of Pods and their importance wasn't real, that it was just something played up for some reason, but the sudden change in Vanora's attitude was enough to convince her it was real. And now she was a part of that.

* * *

Aurora swam slowly only centimetres above the sand between the outcrops of reef. She wasn't sure what to do. Vanora had left to get one of the other Mermaids the same age as her, Veridia, and had taken her bag of shells to one of the caves.

Aurora didn't like not having them with her but when Vanora had offered she hadn't wanted to refuse. Selene had said she could start exploring the reef, if she wasn't too tired from swimming. She had been but she liked the idea of going to the reef, there were so many different fish she'd never seen before and even a turtle. She hadn't seen any turtles before.

She stopped beside some branched coral. There were seahorses with their tails curled to the coral. One of the smaller ones came loose and tried to wrap its tail around her finger. She giggled slightly and a small stream of bubbles came out her mouth. She hovered her hand beside the coral and the little seahorse reattached to the coral.

There were sharks too. She'd seen sharks before, even been trapped by some until some dolphins scared them off one time, but the ones here seemed friendlier. Ambrose told her sharks that lived around Mermaids were more aggressive to humans but kinder to Mermaids. One of the Mako sharks had swum right up to her and gently bumped its snout against her hand. It swum off happy once she'd gently tickled its snout.

Aurora swam up to the surface. It was so warm here. The island loomed above her, the sloping sand shores giving way to jungle. This was the closest she'd been to land. Kelby told her they were allowed to go right up to Mako, some Mermaids often sunbathed in the very shallows, but they weren't allowed anywhere near the mainland to the West. Land people lived there and it was too dangerous for Mermaids.

Soft splashes behind her made her spin around quickly. It's rude to ignore people. There were three Mermaids, one looked slightly older than her with hair that looked vaguely red. The other two were both blonde.

"The new Mermaid. I'm Coral, what's your name?" the redhead asked.

"Au-" she began before remembering that wasn't meant to be her anymore, " my name's Rita."

"Why do you talk weird?" One of the blondes asked.

"Because she's not from here Ula," the other blonde said.

"Where are you from then, Rita?" Coral spoke again.

She didn't actually know. She'd lived in multiple places - the Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, the English Channel, the North Sea even the Barents Sea* for a few Moon Cycles.

"I don't know," she admitted.

"You don't know where you're from? Really?" Coral asked, apparently not believing her. Aurora backed off slightly. She didn't know these Mermaids, she didn't know what they would do, or if they were even a threat to her.

Another Mermaid surfaced, only she appeared in front of Aurora, facing Coral, Ula and whoever the other blonde was.

"Leave her alone Coral. She's already terrified, so you've won. Go and celebrate somewhere else and take your ramoras away with you."

Coral looked ready to say something in return. The newcomer made a move to swim forward and Coral backed off.

"We were only teasing," Coral said defensively.

"And now you're done. So go."

The Mermaids ducked under the water and disappeared.

The new Mermaid turned around to face her and Aurora was reminded instantly of Vanora. She had the same colour of eyes and a similar face.

"You're the new Mermaid aren't you? Rita, isn't it?" She asked.

Aurora just nodded.

"I'm Veridia. Vanora asked me to show you around Mako."

"Oh. Thank you."

Veridia tilted her head slightly. She seemed to be studying Aurora.

"Your accent is weird."

Aurora didn't know what to say.

"I like it though."

Aurora smiled slightly.

"I can show you where the sleeping caves are. Vanora left your stuff there for you. Do you have any cool shells?"

"Some." She picked up a lot of unusual ones on the way to Mako that she'd never seen before. Maybe they were common here though. She liked them though.

"I'll show you mine. There's a good place out past the reefs closer to the forbidden land that always has lots of shells. We're not really allowed out there but no one notices as long as you're not out there to long. I think I've got too many shells now but no one mind."

"You're allowed to keep all your shells?" Marisol had always restricted her possessions. Aurora wasn't allowed to hide anything from her, not even the smallest Cowrie shell.

"Yeah." Veridia said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "At Mermaid School we have to take some in with us when Meredith asks us to and we all identify them. It's kind of boring but we start using our Powers soon so things will get more interesting then."

Aurora just nodded. Until today she'd never spoken to any Mermaid the same age as her, the closest had been Brooke, who was sixteen. She had no idea what to do or say.

"You don't talk much do you?" Veridia asked.

Aurora shook her head, "sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. The others talk way too much, Cordelia and Ula are the worst - I've met seagulls quieter than them."

Aurora managed to laugh. If more of the Mermaids were like Veridia and less like Coral, maybe she would actually fit in at Mako. Mako could actually be a real home for her and Marisol would never be able to get to her again.

* * *

* "mija" Spanish - daughter

* The Barents Sea is off the north west coast of Russia

 **1978 - Aurora's born**

 **1984 - Aurora joins Mako Pod**

 **1998 - Mimmi is born**

 **2000 - Zac is born**

 **2004 - Mimmi is left at Mako by Nerissa and Zac is left on land**

 **2004 (after Mimmi left at Mako) - Aurora/Rita leaves Mako**

 **2004 - Nerissa is turned into the Dragon and destroys Eastern Pod**

 **2015 - Zac falls into Moon Pool**

 **2016 - Dragon appears at Mako**

 **I know s1 of Mako was released in 2013 but I counted up how many Full Moons there were over the course of Mako and got 13 (including the two between s1 and s2 and I guessed there was one Moon between s2 and s3/4) which means the events of Mako all took place in just over a year, so for timelines sake I made it 2015 Zac was turned.**


End file.
